Can Marissa Mayer Have it All?

Did you just reiterate the entire article someone else just wrote, pointless.

5:18 pm July 17, 2012

Gug wrote :

Can Marissa have it all? Yes, of course. She just got her dream job. She already has hundreds of millions of dollars. If her growing baby is healthy, her own health is good, and her hubby is loving then she has it all. Seriously. We can't keep "going there."

5:23 pm July 17, 2012

Westner wrote :

Well said Gug.

5:50 pm July 17, 2012

Denver Dad wrote :

No, she can't have it all. You can't be a CEO and be an involved parent. Men can't do it either.

6:03 pm July 17, 2012

Todd wrote :

You can’t be a CEO and be an involved parent. Men can’t do it either.

Sure you can - if you have the right stuff. I recall a story about Roberto Goizueta CEO of Coke for ~20 years being interviewed and the reporter called his office and asked for an interview. They said sure, come on over. The reporter asked him during the interview - aren't you busy? He said, "No, not really. I hire the best people and let them do their thing."

6:05 pm July 17, 2012

Todd wrote :

I'm sure we could find examples of micro managing workaholic CEOs who ran their companies into the ground. Sometimes you want folks running your business who work smarter rather than harder.

7:06 pm July 17, 2012

Houston wrote :

See previous post for comments. I agree with Denver Dad. Also, Yahoo is not a well-run company--she can't coast. Mayer has been hired to restructure and turn around the company. This is not an easy, 9-6 job. This is a crazy, stressful, bet-the-company type of job.

7:59 pm July 17, 2012

Lawyer Mom in DC wrote :

She needs to turn the company around and have systems in place before October.

8:15 pm July 17, 2012

Gug wrote :

Delegate.

As Todd remarked, put the right people in place and deploy them strategically. CEO's across industries and income levels do this all the time.

A local CEO who shall remain nameless puts in about 20 hours face-time/week and makes just about all the kids' ballgames. His net worth is >100MM. He is living quite the enjoyable life.

Closer to home (as in next door), the guy making about $1.5MM, granted not even close to Marissa, runs his own shop, but mostly runs his own boat... and golf cart... and skis.

It can be done.

8:38 pm July 17, 2012

Aaron S. wrote :

I would imagine until Yahoo shareholders are happy that the whole "sit-back-and-let-the-best-do-their-thing" management style won't go over to well.

8:55 pm July 17, 2012

SB wrote :

This is unbelievably annoying now. Who are you to editorialize about whether she can have it all or not? How do you know how she defines "it all"? Did you REALLY just tell her to stay home and bond with her baby? I assume you give this (unsolicited) advice to every man you meet who takes a three day paternity leave. Condescending, obnoxious and sexist - nice work.

9:31 pm July 17, 2012

Todd wrote :

Aaron,

It is interesting to know, when they do the final autopsy on Nokia or RIM, if they went bankrupt because the CEO didn't work hard enough? Or, was it due to fundamental strategy errors?

I'm thinking that Yahoo isn't a fundamentally sound company that just needs some operational restructuring, it's a fundamentally dying company that needs the next big idea.

9:37 pm July 17, 2012

Allboys wrote :

"As much as we might like to pretend that a woman can just pop out a baby and get right back to her pre-pregnancy life, it just isn’t so. And it shouldn’t be."

Sure it is. If you have enough resources, and neither mother nor child have medical complications, you can most certainly return to your "normal" life in a few weeks. The first female partner at my law firm was (in)famous for having taken only three weeks maternity leave and then returning full-time to the fray. Her husband was one of the top orthopedic surgeons in town, and she also had family money in addition to her partner draw. She had a fulltime nanny who apparently rivaled Mary Poppins/Maria von Trapp in competence, and sent her child off to sleepaway camp for most of the summer during the elementary and middle school years.

But this partner was one of the pioneers -- she graduated from Harvard with a joint MBA/JD degree in the early 1970s, when female students were few and far between and had to be tough as nails to get through the program. First female associate, first female partner, first pregnant attorney -- there was NO WAY she was taking months off or demanding to work a part-time schedule. And she always seemed kind of disappointed in the rest of us, who took every bit of our three months' paid leave and as many months of unpaid leave as we could get away with.

And, of course, low-income women and those who already have large families have never had the luxury of taking months off to "bond" with their newborns.

10:06 pm July 17, 2012

Partner Mom wrote :

Just because you can't figure out how to make the juggle work efficiently for yourself doesn't mean others are incapable. Let's stop assuming we know the answer to this. We also don't have a crystal ball.

10:55 pm July 17, 2012

Indy wrote :

Considering the track record of Yahoo's stream of non-pregnant CEOs I don't think having a baby is that much of an issue...she has 3 months to go, can have as much help/flexibility as she wants, and face it, she either has "it" or she doesn't. Can never understand the whole mommy war thing-it's her life, the board's choice, and if you think it's dumb then don't own the stock.

11:08 pm July 17, 2012

Todd wrote :

Considering the track record of Yahoo’s stream of non-pregnant CEOs

LOL!!! I laughed so hard I actually snorted.

11:36 pm July 17, 2012

I can't believe this article wrote :

I am a contract worker and I was back at my part time work within 3 days of giving birth for some of my children and worked throughout for the others. So long as you can afford child care and feel at least as well working as you'd feel at home, many woman can physically and emotionally keep working. (Some cannot and need help.) I do not like articles like this, which make it sound like women become nuts and incompetent to work. Women throughout the ages have worked in the fields, pioneered across the country, given birth in times of war, etc. Some have died, but many have persevered and thrived.

To the extent a woman has a choice, she should be able to exercise it.

Kudos to Gug above! Indy makes a great point also!

1:14 am July 18, 2012

Coach Laura wrote :

This article is poorly written and written in a way that indicates that anyone who doesn't think like Moore, the author, is wrong. Moore's statement "But as any working mother can tell you, priorities change." is incorrect. Some parent's (note I said "parents" not "women" or "mothers") priorities change but not all. Mayer has previously been quoted as saying that she works 90 hours per week. Some fathers work 90 hours a week - surgeons, CEOs, lawyers. Some mothers may make that choice too. The fact that Yahoo's board was willing to look beyond the pregnancy to the executive IS news and that should be celebrated. Let Marissa and her husband manage their family and make their choices. I hope others don't "Mommy-track" Marissa as Moore has.

http:coachlauralife.blogspot.com

5:15 am July 18, 2012

classycareergirl wrote :

I agree, life would be different if you have a child but everything depends on how you balance your life and your work. It's tough

6:25 am July 18, 2012

NEGirl wrote :

I read an article yesterday that used the term "glass cliff"--suggesting that Mayer (and other women) are selected for, and take, these "no-win" positions at companies perched on the edge of a cliff because men don't want the taint of a failed company. (See also: Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman, etc.) I'm not sure which I find more offensive, this article, implying that there is no way she can do the job while pregnant, or that one, which implies that this sort of near-impossible turnaround work is a no-win situation so men don't want to take them.

Honestly, it is entirely possible that a brilliant, multi-millionaire can make this work. Let's give her a year or two. Sheesh.

7:08 am July 18, 2012

Anonymous wrote :

So she will go on maternity leave, thus beginning a cycle of having others work in her place to support her choice to breed. The company didn't make that choice, she did.

8:39 am July 18, 2012

Laura from Baltimore wrote :

Ditto SB WSJ, your bias is showing. Give it a rest.

As many others have said, women have had babies and gotten right back up and gone on with their lives since time immemorial. Taking months off to sit home and "bond" with your baby is a luxury that probably 95%+ of the planet -- including most people in the US -- cannot afford. A reminder from last week's NYT:

"After Ms. Schairer had an operation for cervical cancer last summer, the surgeon told her to take six weeks off. She went back to work five weeks early, with a rare flash of class anger. 'It’s easy when you make $500 an hour to stand there and tell me to take six weeks off,' she said. 'I can’t have six weeks with no pay.'"

On the higher end of the economic scale was the partner at my old firm who was famous for scheduling an induction on Friday so she could be back at work Monday. Like Allboys wrote, taking time off back then would have been seen as admitting that women can't handle the demands of the job, so she sucked it up and powered through. It probably sucked royally for her. But people like her paved the way for people like me to even be hired.

The constant subtle criticism of Ms. Mayer's choices is tiresome and wearing. Opining that she'll change her mind, that she needs to take the time off, etc., is just a "nicer" way of declaring that there's only one way to be a mom, and that's your way. (Note, I said "mom," not "parent," because I have yet to see this kind of hangwringing over CEO dads who choose to return to work shortly after having a child.)

Personally, I was glad to have the time off. But the only reason I really "needed" it after the initial few days of recovery was for the sleep deprivation -- something that a night nanny could have easily have fixed.

9:05 am July 18, 2012

LStages wrote :

@Laura from Baltimore - I have really enjoyed your posts and am glad you joined us. I hope you'll stick around, both here and you-know-where.

9:14 am July 18, 2012

Anonymous wrote :

Mayer is kinda creepy looking, I compare her to Rebecca de Mornay in The Hand That Rocks The Cradle. I don't know her personally, but her eyes sometimes look cold.

9:47 am July 18, 2012

Moxiemom wrote :

Feh, its her life, her baby. You be the kind of mom you want to be and let her be whatever kind of mom she wants to be. If you want to stay home with your baby, super. If someone else doesn't, then super for them. Raising kids is like religion, you don't know until the end whether you were right or wrong. Do your best, plot your own journey, own your choices. Just because someone makes different choices, doesn't mean that it invaidates your choices - they are just different.

9:48 am July 18, 2012

CEO wrote :

You know what, CHICKEN BUTT

9:50 am July 18, 2012

Moxiemom wrote :

BTW, her hubby is pretty easy on the eyes. Maybe she can have it all.

10:14 am July 18, 2012

L wrote :

Aren't the last two posts exactly the same? WTF is going on?

10:20 am July 18, 2012

Anonymous wrote :

On a lighter note, houston, how do you feel about the linsanity headed your way?

10:26 am July 18, 2012

Anon wrote :

So glad others posted what I have been thinking. I had my baby at 12:30 pm and was on a conference call the next day at 10 am. Within a few days, I was working from home and could easily be back in the office at 3 weeks. I don't begrudge others that need more time, but that was just not my experience and hopefully won't be Ms. Meyers. I had a supportive husband, employees and co-workers and a baby that slept for 6 hours from the first day out of the hospital. It can work. She can have it all.

10:34 am July 18, 2012

Anonymous wrote :

WSJ editors, time to post about something else! this topic has been beaten.

10:56 am July 18, 2012

Aaron S. wrote :

"So she will go on maternity leave, thus beginning a cycle of having others work in her place to support her choice to breed. The company didn’t make that choice, she did."

CEO's and other "C level" positions are exempt from FMLA. I'm sure she's afforded some time off for the birth and recovery but will be expected to be occuping the big office in a short amount of time.

Todd - I don't know what the Yahoo board is expecting outside of an increase in share price. As you alluded, Yahoo is a bit outmoded... it is so last Milenium. I'm sure there is more than one reason they picked a young, first time CEO.

11:07 am July 18, 2012

Mamadoc wrote :

It drove me crazy when I was pregnant with my first and people told me I would never want to come back. "You just can't understand what it will be like." I came back at 2 months, happily. if I had a night nanny, I could have easily come back at a few weeks.

11:10 am July 18, 2012

Mamadoc wrote :

I don't think c-level positions are excluded formally from EMTALA (citation, Aaron S.?). However, she will be excluded because she hasn't been in her current position for 6 months. I don't think that is the central issue -- I imagine she will work as much as she can and/or chooses to.

11:42 am July 18, 2012

sdlawyer wrote :

Like Mamadoc, the people saying I wouldn't want to come back (and the people here saying Meyer can't possibly "understand" what it will be like) drive me nuts. I went back to work, voluntarily - albeit mostly working at home because I wasn't ready to put DS in daycare - when DS was 6 weeks. Not because I had something to prove, but because I was bored out of my mind on leave. And I could have gone back sooner if it weren't for a prolonged illness/death in DH's immediate family that made it so I was pretty much the sole person taking care of DS at night (again, like Mamadoc and Laura, a night nanny would have solved that problem). This time I am going to stretch out my leave more, but it is mostly because i'm feeling burnt out and need a little break. But who knows, I might make it to 6 weeks again and change my mind. No one can tell Meyer what is the "right" way to handle her leave.

You hit the crux of the arugment. Having a child is a CHOICE, and it is one that comes with consequences. You people think that the world owes you something, meanwhile that CHOICE that you made means other people will be picking up your slack at work, and guess what... they will advance quicker and make more money.

1:13 pm July 18, 2012

R.E.P wrote :

If the President can promise Hope and Change, a CEO can have a baby.

2:22 pm July 18, 2012

Saacnmama wrote :

A more positive spin I've heard on the "glass cliff" /Yahoo's problems is that if things don't go well for the company, there's no way it can all be blamed on her.

Todd, I mostly agree with you, except that many peoples defi ition of "having it all" would include regular, frequent involvement with the kid, not jus appearing in family portraits together.

I think anyone who says that becoming a parent didn't bring big changes, some of which were completely unexpected is lying, sleep deprived, or forgetting. No one can say what specific changes a person will go through, but this is not a simple medical procedure that ends when one checks out of the clinic. It's the beginning of always including this new person anytime you plaThe Hellhound of Wall Street: How Ferdinand Pecora's Investigation of the Great Crash Forever Changed American Finance (Paperback)
Michael Perinon anythig in your life. She may become more driven than ever, in order to buy the child their own department at Princeton, you never know

2:23 pm July 18, 2012

Saacnmama wrote :

Wow, look what was in my phones clipboard inthe middle of the last post!

Sorry

I was trying to say that MM will go thru life changes, but not necessarily the type some are predicting

5:25 pm July 18, 2012

Meg FitzGerald wrote :

There are numerous employees who have cancer (quietly) and go right back to work.
This post is draconian and pathetic.

This is all great PR for Yahoo. Google and FB have been eclipsing Yahoo for years, and now with Marissa having the baby, there will be tons of coverage when the baby's born. Of course Yahoo board will not have issue with her having a baby because she is their answer to FB's Sandberg. Mayer was already a Silicon Vally celebrity and now people are actually talking about Yahoo again.

6:25 am July 26, 2012

Katrin G. wrote :

I've heard all of that "priorities change"-bullshit when I was pregnant and planning to go right back to work, too. "As soon as you have your baby in your arms, you'll see how impossible it is to leave him alone." Thank god I stuck to my plans: I was working till friday night, giving birth on saturday morning and starting to work again (though home office only for two weeks) on wednesday. My husband took a one-year-leave to look after our little boy and I soon got promoted :)
Now that our boy is two years old, looking back it was the right decision - for all the three of us. All it took was flexibility and being well organized - you can even combine a management fulltime job and breastfeeding. To all working mommies to be: don't listen to the alarmists but make it your way :).

9:53 am July 26, 2012

Ryan wrote :

That's why Marrisa Mayor is Yahoo's CEO and Angela Moore is not.

3:28 pm July 26, 2012

Kathryn Sollmann wrote :

I applaud both Yahoo and Marissa Mayer for trying to make work and motherhood work. Too many women give up on work too easily and then regret their decision years later. I know this is true because for a decade I coached very highly educated returning professional women who had great "long ago" professional resumes. So many were unfulfilled and unhappy after years of volunteering (for no money). Motherhood is wonderful and important but it does not need to be all or nothing--and not all women can be or aspire to be a CEO. There are so many ways to work--full-time, part-time, project work, longer-term consulting assignments, entrepreneurial ventures. You can work 5 hours a week after a baby and 50 hours week at some other stage in your life. It is so hard to get back in to a professional, challenging job when you totally leave the workforce for more than two years. And, most of all, I think that Marissa will be a great role model to her children--something that I think women don't factor in their off ramping decision. It does matter that children see a mother drive for the carpool and make dinner and watch only their fathers go to what can be perceived as big, powerful and important work where he slays dragons. Here's a pretty startling story about a young boy's perception of women that I wrote on my multi-channel blog site, http://www.9livesforwomen.comhttp://9livesforwomen.com/2012/07/19/out-of-the-mouths-of-babes/

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The Juggle examines the choices and tradeoffs people make as they juggle work and family. The site provides readers with news, insight and tips on parenting, workplace issues, commuting, caregiving and other issues busy readers with families face. It is also a place for readers to share and compare their own work-and-family experiences and to seek advice and recommendations. The Juggle is includes regular contributions from other staffers at the Journal. Contact the Juggle with ideas or suggestions at thejuggle@wsj.com

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